Windows Application development
Windows applications are often considered to be somewhat “old style” when thinking of developing a new project. However, every tool has its place and windows development is no different.
It’s certainly true that web applications are great for collaborative working and processes that many people will use, they do have some drawbacks however.
the benefits of windows applications include
- Do not require a connection to the internet, great if you are on the move and not “connected”
- Can process data locally using the power of your pc – long running processes are not ideally suited to websites
- Can interact with your PC – for example processing files that are held on your PC
Examples of windows based applications that we bave built over the recent past include:
A financial reporting tool
The tool took sales information from a variety of sources and applied a number of measures to the results.
Those results were then passed into a pre-defined Ms Excel template to produce a management reporting pack.
A windows application suited this application for the following reasons
- The processing and excel generation was a “long running” process not suited to a website
- The finance team needed to process data from a variety of internal sources, including csv, Excel and database
- The spreadsheet template was “changeable” and suited being available locally
Note: this could have been delivered as a web application, and that was a consideration here. The decision to build a windows application was a sensible one and the resultant management reporting tool was a success.
A windows based sales commission calculator
When a large multi level marketing company was modifying its commissions model, we were asked to assist with a revision of the commissions calculation tool. In this case the rules of how commissions were calculated were complex and needed to be changed easily.
We identified that an application that spread its “load” between a server and a windows application would be appropriate
- There were only a few users of the system so the benefits of multiuser web were not needed there.
- The application needed to be able to print standard commission statements, somethign a remote web server would not be able to do easily
- IT policy dictated that this should not be a web based application.
Our solution was to develop a windows application that communicated with SQL server. Much of the heavy lifting calculation was done on the SQL server, and then additional calculation by components on the server.
A successful outcome, allowed the custoemer to configure their commissions rules and perform runs of commission statements that were accurate and delivered quickly.
A Custom XML editor
Our customer develops an application that uses a complex XML structure to determine the way that their application works. Often the computers that are being configured are not connected to the internet as they are kiosks and simple PC’s
our application determines a set of rules and workflows to ensure the user creating the XML configuration file does not break the system by entering incorrect data.
A windows app to analyse the specification of a PC
In this case our windows 7 application was developed to analyze a PC and the specification of it.
We detect processor, memory, hardware capabilities, video cards, network and installed software. this specification is then compiled into a structured form to be passed onto another application.
This windows application required some in-depth access to the PC hardware and the files that are on the PC. A web based application would simply not be allowed access to the users file system.
If you are looking to create a windows based application to assist your business we can help.
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